On your marks, get set — run for your lives.
Floyd Bennett Field is hosting a rugged run event with a zombie twist, where only the fastest runners and climbers will be able to outpace the infected horde and make it to finish line with their brains intact.
The race got its start when creators Ryan Hogan and Derrick Smith wanted to promote some athletic gear they sell. In an instance of the carriage pulling the horse, Hogan and his buddy Derrick Smith came up with slogan, “Run For Your Lives,” before they came up with an event to go along with it.
“Their next question was, what do people run from?” said Lauren Gambler, the event’s public relations representative.
Zombies, of course.
Hogan and Smith learned everything they know from watching AMC’s hit drama “The Walking Dead,” and the clothing designers hosted their first Zombie run two years ago in Maryland, attracting over 12,000 participants
Before each race begins, the runners — or “survivors” — are handed three flags, a la flag football, which represents the contestants health.
Meanwhile, those runners who elect to begin the race in a state of undeath are put through the Zombie Transformation Center, where a pit team of zombie makeup masters work feverishly to put a whole horde together.
The zombie transformation process varies depending on the source of fiction, but in this case, it doesn’t take too long.
“Our team provides makeup to all zombies and assists in the bloodiness and shredding of clothing,” said Gambler. “The entire process takes about 20 minutes per participant.”
Preparations complete, the runners are unleashed upon a muddy track littered with hurdles, rope ladders, water slides, and other obstacles, which is all not mention the flag-hungry ghouls itching to make a snack out of all those track stars.
Run For Your Lives 5k Zombie Run at Floyd Bennett Field [50 Aviation Rd. between the Belt Parkway and Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, register at www.runforyourlives.com]. Oct. 26, first wave begins at 9 am. $70. Brooklyn Paper readers get a $15 discount by enter ZOMBIESNYC when prompted during registration.
